The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-11-09
THE wA-BEMBE.
An Interesting Tribe OF Afrieans-Thsy
Prefer Death to slavery.

An Interesting Tribe Of Afrieans-Thsy
Prefer Death to Slavery.
Every now and then some mission
airy or explorer in Africa reports the
of some interesting tribe
that has never been heard Of before.
Though Africa has been oyerrun in all
there are extensive regions
between the tracks of travellers that
are still unknown, and remarkable in
formation often rewards the first
wh lite man who visits them Father
Josset. a Catholic missionary. who
lives west of Lake Tanganyika, has
just sent home an account of an in
teresting people of whom Livingstone.
Cameron, Stanley. Thompson. and
other travellers never heard. though
they all, doubtless. saw the mountains
on which this tribe have made their
homes
The Wa-Bembe, Father Josset SAYS,
inhabit chain of mountains some dis
tanee west of the great Lake Tangan-
yika- The country around them has
for years been overrun by Arab slave
and ivory dealers. but the Wa-Bembe
have never met them. 1t has been
their deliberate purpose 10 avoid all
contact with the Mohammedau ele-
ment, and this difficult policy has been
successfully carried out.
Dividing their tribe into clans the
mountaineers have built their villages
upon the loftiest and most preeipitous
parts of the chain of mountains they
inhabit. They sternly forbid all
strangers from climbing their sum-
mits. When they have become well
acquainted with individuals of other
tribes they permit their visits, but
they allow no party of men To ascend
their mountains. and they will have
nothing TO do with natives whom they
suspect of holding relations with the
Arabs or with the Waugwanas, a tribe
that has been converted 10 Islamism.
They devote themselves to the culture
of the soil, and their mountains are
the granary of the northwest coast of
the lake.
Sometimes they descend into the
plain TO exchange the products of their
| fields for the iron lances and axes
| made by the natives of Uvira.
These visits are very brief. Then
| they visit the mission stations to get
cloth in exchange for the provisions
| they bring They always reach the
| stations at nightfall. and as soon as
their business is transacted they at
| once retrace their steps To their noun
tain homes. They have grown to have
| confidence in the missionaries, and
their chiefs have at last consented to
| receive white men on their mountains
who go there to buy food.
1t must not be thought that the Wa
| Bembe take pleasure in thus isolating
| themselves from the world around
them. They keep all men at arms
| length because they know the misery
that the Arab slave-dealers have in
| hicted upon scores of hapless villages.
| They are determined to die rather
| than be enslaved, and in their noun
tain fastness they are able, through
their bravery and superior position, to
keep themselves free and Independent.
They bitterly hate all Mohammedans,
and want all persons of that faith to
let them severely alone. Their self
imposed restraints are CALLING never
theless, and they would like to be
able to move more freely around the
country.
A little while ago one of the chiefs
visited Father Jossets mission station
1--WE would like, said he, Ito be the
children of the whites. The situation
in which we live is very unpleasant
We are obliged TO till our fields will
} the hoe in one hand and the spear il
the other. If the whites would onl,
induce the Arabs and their nativ
/ friends to let us alone the presen
situation would cease. We would the
work in our fields without fear, anC
; we would gladly supply our whit
; friends and their children with food
We would bring you, not as to-day
little bundles of food that children ca
carry, but big loads under who's
, | weight even men would fall"
The missionaries told the chief tina
, they looked upon the Wa-Bembe a
their children, and that they would a
the first opportunity intercede with tn
/ Arabs in their behalf. 1t is to
/ feared that they will not be able Z
make much impression upon the crue
slave-drivers, who kill without mere
| all the natives who oppose thei
: | crimes.
Father Josef says the Wa-Bemb
are a numerous people, and tn
mountains where they dwell fairl
swarm with human beings. A nativ
whom the missionaries sent TO tn
mountain homes of this people re
turned with the statement that mel
were as thick on the mountain slope
as blades of grass on the plain, anC
that some of their villages along the
ridges were three miles in length.
Here is a tribe that at one of the
very head fountains of the Arab slav,
trade have maintained the spirit Of
freedom. They have kept arms in
their hands, determined TO resist to the
bitter end all attempts to reduce them
to bondage Their courage and tho
natural stronghold which they defend
have made them formidable, and in
the pure air of their mountain homes
they are multiplying and strengthen
ing, while the tribes around them
blighted by the Arab invasion, are
wasting away.-NeD York Sun.